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Financial Times: Shire has agreed a $32 billion takeover of Baxalta in a sign that the two-year-old boom in pharmaceuticals mergers and acquisitions has continued into 2016.

The Daily Telegraph: RBS has advised clients to brace for a “cataclysmic year” and a global deflationary crisis, warning that major stock markets could fall by a fifth and oil may plummet to $16 a barrel.

The Guardian: The price of crude oil could tumble to $20 a barrel in the coming months if China’s currency continues to decline against the US dollar, one of Wall Street’s leading investment banks Morgan Stanley has predicted.

Financial Times: Auction house Sotheby’s has bought a boutique art advisory group Art Agency, hoping new business lines will give it a boost in an increasingly competitive art market.

Financial Times: Toyota will keep making cars at its plant in the English Midlands even if the UK votes to leave the European Union, chief executive Akio Toyoda said in a boost for campaigners wanting a Brexit.

Financial Times: The UK’s competition regulator on Monday said it would accelerate its investigation into a £2.2 billion deal between Ladbrokes and Gala Coral after the companies requested a fast-track to a more detailed probe.

Business and economics

Financial Times: High street retailers had a challenging Christmas, squeezed by rapid growth in online sales and falling prices in shops, the British Retail Consortium said on Tuesday.

Financial Times: Skyscanner has received nearly $192 million from new investors, in a move that sees the Edinburgh-based online travel site enter the small club of British ‘unicorns’ — private technology companies worth more than $1 billion.

Financial Times: A Russian fund has accused JKX, the London-listed oil and gas company, of “woeful performance”, “poor decision making” and “mismanagement” as it continues its bid to make wholesale changes to the board.

Financial Times: Almost 75 million passengers travelled through Heathrow airport in 2015, setting a new record for the UK’s biggest and most congested airport.

Financial Times: UK boatbuilder Sunseeker International is hoping for strong sales this year after taking more than £14 million of orders in the first three days of the London Boat Show.

The Daily Telegraph: Standard Life Investments is to use its stake in BG Group to back the oil company’s £40 billion merger with Royal Dutch Shell, just days after calling the deal “value destructive”.

Financial Times: London-listed property agent Savills has warned of a coming slowdown in real estate transactions in some markets, even as it said its own 2015 results would come in ahead of expectations.

Financial Times: The FTSE 100 housebuilder Taylor Wimpey achieved a record operating profit margin of more than 20% in 2015 as it sold more homes at higher prices in a favourable environment for home construction.

Financial Times: Sergio Marchionne, chief executive of Fiat Chrysler, has warned that the trend towards electric vehicles threatens the sector’s viability and should prompt a rethink about the merits of consolidation.

Daily Mail: Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct has continued to suffer following last week’s profit warning after poor Christmas trading.

Financial Times: Chief executives from Europe’s 10 largest telecoms groups have been summoned to a meeting by Brussels’ digital commissioner to speed up and implement a strategy to deploy next generation 5G mobile services. ‎

The Guardian: The Dick Smith chief executive, Nick Abboud, has quit a week after the electronics retailer went into receivership with debts of about $390 million.

Financial Times: Europe’s biggest television production company Endemol Shine has lost its top creative executive, barely a year after it was formed by Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox and private equity group Apollo Global Management.

The Independent: The Chinese stock market suffered a brutal opening to a second week of trading yesterday, as fears grew about the fragility of the economy and confusion reigned over the intentions of policymakers in Beijing.

Financial Times: Volkswagen on Monday used the first day of the Detroit auto show to launch a bold attempt to “reignite Americans’ love for Volkswagen” following the emissions scandal, as other carmakers unveiled new models to capitalise on the booming US market.

Daily Mail: Fears that luxury brands are struggling in the face of turmoil in China and a tough Christmas season has led hedge funds to short the shares of British brand Burberry.

Financial Times: Uber chief executive Travis Kalanick launched the latest salvo in his company’s battle for supremacy in China on Monday, insisting that the ride-hailing company could outlast local rival Didi Kuaidi because of its huge balance sheets and more efficient spending practices.

Daily Mail: Global sales of super-luxury Rolls-Royce cars have fallen for the first time in six years following a dramatic 54% plummet in the troubled Chinese market.

Financial Times: The world’s biggest investment banks are pulling out the stops to win part of the listing of Saudi Arabia’s national oil company, but industry insiders admit the financial rewards will be far lower than Saudi Aramco’s potential valuation suggests.

The Daily Telegraph: Travelodge, the budget hotel chain that was bailed out in 2012 before turning round its fortunes, will invest £140 million on 19 new branches this year.

Financial Times: Electrolux’s chief executive is to step down only a month after the collapse of a big acquisition he hoped would transform the Swedish appliance maker.

The Guardian: The European commission has ruled that the brewer ABInBev, BP and 33 other multinationals have received sweetheart tax deals from Belgium so generous as to amount to illegal state aid.

Daily Telegraph: BAE Systems is on track for “a very good year” thanks to an escalation in geopolitical tensions, according to analysts.

The Daily Telegraph: BT has appointed a new chief executive for Openreach, the company's broadband infrastructure division, after its former boss resigned to run Britain's biggest building society, Nationwide.

Share tips, comment and bids

Financial Times: Sanofi has signed two deals with biotech companies worth up to €1.2 billion in a clear sign of the French pharmaceuticals group’s ambitions to build its oncology business.

Financial Times: A group of Chinese investors has struck the country’s biggest single investment in a German company, agreeing to buy the Munich-based engineering specialist, KraussMaffei Group, in a €925 million deal.

Financial Times: Chris Hughes, the Facebook co-founder and owner of The New Republic, has put the century-old political magazine up for sale after admitting defeat in his mission to turn into a digital media company.

Financial Times: Laing O’Rourke, the British engineer, has put its Australian operation up for sale amid a shift in infrastructure spending in the country away from oil, gas and mining projects to roads and railways.

Financial Times: CMC Markets, a spread-betting company founded by City of London tycoon Peter Cruddas, is set to decide as soon as Tuesday whether to launch an initial public offering that would value the company at as much as £1 billion.

Financial Times: BT will consider joint ventures with Deutsche Telekom after the group becomes the UK company’s largest shareholder, according to the company’s chairman.

Financial Times: Xchanging has urged shareholders to back a takeover offer from US rival Computer Sciences Corporation, saying that it has no confidence that an alternative bid will emerge.

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